We're straying too far from the point I was trying to make. National identity is plausibly a dangerous thing to hold up as a virtue, irrespective of the compari

We're straying too far from the point I was trying to make. National identity is plausibly a dangerous thing to hold up as a virtue, irrespective of the comparison to local identity. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's designs over Taiwan, WW1, WW2, trade protectionism, closed borders, and so on. These things are not all about national identity, but national identity does play a non-trivial role.